Dalai Lama
China, an officially atheist country with one of the worst track records on religious freedom, is accusing Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama of profaning his own faith by continuing to suggest that he may not choose to be reincarnated when he dies.
China wants the power to approve a next Dalai Lama. The current Dalai Lama wants anything but. For Tibetan Buddhism, politics and religion seem more interwoven than ever before.
China—the country that profanes unregistered faiths by torturing, imprisoning and forcibly converting followers—accuses the Dalai Lama of profanity.
The country says it “follows a policy of freedom of religion and belief,” then thrusts its controlling hands deep into Tibetan Buddhism’s inner workings.
The hypocritical state accuses the Dalai Lama of hypocrisy for having become the 14th Dalai Lama 65 years ago (under very different political circumstances) and now not wanting China to handpick a 15th.
This Dalai Lama has flat out said that he won’t be reborn in China if Tibet is not free and that “no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People’s Republic of China.”
But given the will he/won’t he dynamics surrounding the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, choosing or not choosing to choose a candidate has become an inherently political calculation.
The Dalai Lama has long been a statesman with no state, a source of diplomatic debate and a thorn in China’s side. He gave up his political role in Tibet’s exile government four years ago but is still playing politics, and he’s playing it well. His last move, whether or not to be reincarnated, could be his most politically charged.